


of things they do

by xervos



Category: Hyouka & Kotenbu Series
Genre: Clothes Shopping, F/M, Ficlets, Grocery Shopping, Shenanigans, tea making, theres a lot of blushing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:54:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28291221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xervos/pseuds/xervos
Summary: There's a quiet sort of beauty in the mundane that they find themselves in.A brief view into the every day lives of one Oreki Houtarou, and Chitanda Eru.
Relationships: Chitanda Eru/Oreki Houtarou
Comments: 3
Kudos: 28
Collections: Hyouka Secret Santa 2020





	of things they do

**Author's Note:**

  * For [owenonimous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/owenonimous/gifts).



> So, hi. HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO THOSE WHO CELEBRATE!
> 
> This is part of the event in the Hyouka server and I had the honor to write for owen!! Part of the prompts were these little mundane things that OreChi did and I love these fics a lot too.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

_ tea _

Houtarou doesn’t know how to brew tea. He never has, and he ought to try, but he can’t bring himself to. Not when the tea that Chitanda brews tastes so much better than whatever he could muster to make—which just means whatever tea he could find in the kitchen dunked in too hot water.

“Oreki-san, your tea is perfectly fine,” she protests when he shares this particular thought over snacks at his house, and in response he can only shake his head.

“It’s not the same,” he says.

“How so?”

He frowns, looking at the teacup in his hand. A faint reflection of himself looks back.

_ The tea you make tastes gentle. It feels like all the cold just melts away with every sip. It never feels too much. _

He can hear the soft rustle of Chitanda’s movements across him, and he’s reminded that he’s in no rush to answer.

_ You always look like you enjoy yourself, brewing tea. _

“It just is.”

He looks back up to gauge Chitanda’s reaction. She looked like she was ready to ask him about it, her curiosity insatiable, and he steels himself for it, but she doesn’t say anything. Rather, she smiles softly and takes another bite of the bread he laid out.

  
  


_ grocery shopping _

“Should Ibara really be this particular about what brands we should get…” Oreki mutters. Eru, overhearing, giggles on the side.

“It really does matter, Oreki-san! The flavor can change depending if the recipe tends to be sweeter or saltier.” She picks out a small bottle of mayonnaise in the middle of the shelf and glances over at Oreki’s progress, if he’s made a choice between the two soy sauces yet, but he hasn’t.

_ He is so cute when he’s like this _ , she thinks, and immediately tries to dispel the thought.

“Are you laughing at me?” Oreki’s pouts don’t look like pouts, because he never juts out his lip, but she can tell with the way his eyebrows crease and his mouth is just very slightly frowning. It looks very similar when he’s annoyed, but his clear green gaze doesn’t hold anything malicious.

“I could never,” she smiles. He doesn’t lose the pout, but doesn’t push any further.

“Still, this place doesn’t have the brand she’s looking for. Which of these can be used as a substitute?” Well, both of those should be fine, but Eru knows that one is healthier than the other because they tend to use less sodium, so she takes it from his hand. Their fingers brush, briefly, and she feels her face warm.

It was one thing to get used to seeing each other on holiday, but it was another thing entirely to get used to touching so casually.

She gently puts the bottle in their basket that Oreki was carrying, and she takes a peek at his face. It remains entirely unchanged except for the slight red around his ears.

  
  


_ clothes shopping _

“This is new,” Houtarou remarks as they walk up to a clothing store. He’s not one to visit one unless his sister drags him out, and even then, Ibara asking (no,  _ demanding _ , with some irritation) that he come along with their shopping trip was strange at least.

Ibara asked them last week, a little before they parted ways going home.

“Oreki.”

Houtarou had looked at her in surprise. It was already out of the ordinary for her to request all of them walk home together, but now she’s talking? Satoshi halted his conversation with Chitanda. “What is it?”

She was looking straight ahead, hesitating. “Next Sunday. The shopping center. One P.M. Don’t be late.”

Considering the fact that Satoshi wasn’t even reacting, Houtarou had sighed. “Do I have a choice?”

“No.”

Speaking of Ibara, she took Satoshi away to go to a crafts store just earlier. She was talking about a new how-to book (or was it an art book?) that just came out and the store was doing an exclusive sale on it. She left him with Chitanda to “go around” for a bit. He did not expect going here in particular.

“Do you not go shopping, Oreki-san?” Chitanda asked. She was already inside, checking out the mannequins.

“Not often, if I could help it.” He pauses as she picks up a folded shirt and smooths out the crinkles. “Why a clothes shop?”

She hums for a bit, clearly taking her time as she primly navigates her way through the store. He follows her. Maybe he does have a choice, maybe he doesn’t, but if there’s anything that Chitanda taught him, it’s that curiosity can’t be stopped.

“I heard it’s a good place to pass the time,” she says, and he almost believes it if not for the small laugh she lets out at the end.

“Did Ibara tell you to do something?”

She glances at him quizzically. “If Mayaka-san needed me to tell you something, she would have said it herself.”

That much is true. He doesn’t know what to do with himself though. “I don’t know how to spend time at a clothes shop, though.”

He is surprised when she holds up a hanger in front of him and says, not without blushing, Houtarou notes, “Usually you try on clothes that suit you.”

He takes the outstretched article of clothing (a dark jacket that feels lightweight) and surveys it.

“I don’t have good fashion sense.”

“That’s fine too.”

In a brief moment of bravery, and perhaps something about being together in a clothing store makes him reach for a nearby top, something soft and billowy and light, and hand it to Chitanda. She takes it hesitantly, and he hopes that his face isn’t as red as it is warm.

“Then I hope you like this.”

**Author's Note:**

> A little bit more background, so these ficlets were mainly inspired by the prompt of “mundane things” that our esteemed Chitanda Eru and Oreki Houtarou might do together! I had a lot of fun thinking up of times where they just might end up blushing a lot around each other HAHAHAHA
> 
> Here's to another year of Hyouka.
> 
> (it's already spring, silly!)


End file.
